The unprecedented all-GOP lieutenant governor and secretary of state elections wind down to the same question as the bygone races between white Democrats: Who will receive the black vote? In the race for the No. 2 post, Jay Dardenne and Billy Nungesser, while splitting Republicans and white Democrats, are competing on less familiar ground for the support of black officials and organizations through their printed ballots and get-out-the-vote operations. The Dardenne team feels good about internal polling showing him leading, but a strong showing by Nungesser among blacks, particularly in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, could make the race much closer.
—The hotly contested BESE election in southwestern Louisiana was causing ripples in the race for Speaker of the House until both top leadership hopefuls got on the same side. Rep. Chuck Kleckley, a Lake Charles Republican, gave challenger Holly Boffy a $1,000 check on Thursday, though he backed incumbent Dale Bayard, also of Lake Charles, with a contribution in 2007. His strongest rival, Rep. Joel Robideaux, a Lafayette Republican, endorsed Boffy earlier and said it better aligned him with Gov. Bobby Jindal, a big Boffy backer who has yet to state his preference for speaker. The next speaker will be expected to carry the governor’s ambitious K-12 package in next year’s session.
They said it: “I just hope no one ever does his family what he’s doing mine.” —Senate candidate James David Cain on attack on him paid for by Gov. Bobby Jindal
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
